Banker spied on elderly tenants in bid to evict them from Chelsea mews house
Former Goldman Sachs partner accused of trying to throw couple out of home ‘for financial gain’
A MULTI-MILLIONAIRE banker who is trying to evict his elderly neighbours in one of London’s most exclusive streets has been accused of being motivated purely by financial gain.
Hugues Lepic, 50, a former partner at Goldman Sachs, claims Robert and Cherry Clarke have no right to stay in the mews house in Chelsea which they have rented for more than 50 years.
He alleges that the couple’s tenancy agreement is not valid because they use a property in Surrey as their main address, which they vehemently deny.
In an attempt to bolster his case, Mr Lepic, who lives in a £10 million town house backing on to the mews, mounted a surveillance camera to monitor comings and goings at the pensioners’ house. He has now asked a judge to kick Mr Clarke, 81, a retired solicitor, and his wife, 72, out of their home.
Mr Lepic, who founded the invest- ment firm Aleph Capital, purchased his house on Cheyne Walk and the lease on the Clarkes’ home in Cheyne Mews, for £5.25 million in 2004. He later acquired the freehold for £732,250.
Cheyne Walk is one of the capital’s most sought-after addresses. Notable former residents include George Eliot, Sir Mick Jagger, David Lloyd George and Sir Laurence Olivier.
Central London County Court heard that the Clarkes moved into Cheyne Mews in 1964 under an old-style regulated, or protected, tenancy agreement. They cannot be evicted unless a possession order is granted by the courts and the landlord can only increase the rent in certain circumstances and by a limited amount.
Mr Lepic’s barrister, Edwin Johnson QC, claimed that as of 2011, the Clarkes were paying just a fifth of the market rate, meaning that Mr Lepic was losing out on £40,000 a year. He argued that the couple had no right to live in the house because their actual home had, for years, been a cottage near Dorking in Surrey.
He said surveillance recordings proved that the couple only sporadically stayed at the mews and that there was evidence to suggest they had been living in Surrey for decades.
If correct, that would invalidate the tenancy.
Mr Johnson told the court: “Mr Clarke does not occupy the property as his residence. Indeed, it is doubtful that he has ever done so. “Accordingly, he is not the statutory tenant of the property and Mr Lepic is entitled to take possession.” He added: “Mr Clarke may have had a remarkable run in the property, paying a rent far below the market value, but he had and has no right to assume that this run will continue indefinitely.”
Edward Denehan, for the Clarkes, accused Mr Lepic of being motivated by financial gain. He claimed that the couple only stayed in Surrey “from time to time” and that Mr Lepic had obtained the freehold for the mews at a reduced rate because the Clarkes were protected tenants. He added that Mr Lepic had been happy to put forward a case that Mr Clarke was a protected tenant when it was in the banker’s interests.
“Mr Clarke has occupied the mews as his family home for 51 years,” Mr Denehan told the court.
“He is 81 years old and in poor health. His children were raised in the mews. He has strong and continuing ties with the area.”
The hearing continues.